"Doing more exercise with less intensity,"
Arthur Jones believes, "has all but
destroyed the actual great value
of weight training. Something
must be done . . . and quickly."
The New Bodybuilding for
Old-School Results supplies
MUCH of that "something."

This is one of 93 photos of Andy McCutcheon that are used in The New High-Intensity Training to illustrate the recommended exercises.

Keelan Parham is a fitness-minded guy. He grew up in Greenville, SC, in the presence of a strong father, a grandfather who was a golden-gloves boxing champ in World War II, and several uncles who were actively involved in weight training and bodybuilding.

"There were always weights and muscle magazines around our house," Keelan remembered, "so I did my share of bench presses and curls. Gospel music was on the radio in the background, along with old records by Elvis Presley."

Keelan's favorite bodybuilder was Steve Reeves and his favorite singer was Elvis. With those two guys in mind, after he graduated from high school, he started getting modeling jobs, first in Atlanta, and then in New York and Miami. "I did all right for several years, but while traveling to a job in Miami, I had a layover in Orlando. My agent got me a shoot at Disney — and while there, I met the most beautiful girl I'd ever seen."

"Guess what?" Keelan continued. "This beautiful woman played the role of Barbie in one of Disney's productions — and her real name was Barbie. I knew right then, I had to be around Orlando permanently."

He did just that and relocated to Orlando, Florida.

To earn a few bucks, he decided to enter an Elvis-impersonation contest at an Orlando flea market. He won first prize, $500, with his rendition of a young Elvis singing "Don't be Cruel," which qualified him for an even larger show in Tampa. He won that contest, too, and a bigger check of $1,000. He continued with the singing for a while, but never really liked assuming the role of Elvis.

In the meantime, he was going strong with Barbie, who was also impressed with her combination of Hercules and Hound Dog man. Soon they were married and Keelan began doing something that he wanted to do for many years. He became a professional cartoonist and eventually established his own team of artists who did caricatures at Walt Disney World and throughout Central Florida (see www.CaricatureConnection.com).

For more than a dozen years Keelan practiced his craft successfully. "Then, with the arrival of two children, I sort of lost interest in training and my eating went unchecked," Keelan noted. "Right before I turned 40, I knew it was time to do something about getting my body back in shape. But nothing seemed to work, at least, for not very long.

"I had read some of Dr. Darden's material on the Internet — and I realized that he lived on my side of Orlando. After a few more unsuccessful attempts at dieting, I contacted him."

Following an informative phone call, Keelan visited my private gym, and we mapped out a plan. His first workout on January 16, 2009, revealed him to be 41 years of age, 5'11" tall, with a body weight of 196 pounds. His percentage of body fat was 25.2 and his waist measured 36 inches.

I figured that with my "A Flat Stomach ASAP" eating plan as a guideline, combined with superhydration, plus twice-a-week HIT sessions, Keelan could lose 23 pounds of fat over the next several months. That was our goal.

Keelan took the program seriously, asked all the right questions, applied the necessary discipline, and his progress was outstanding.

On the morning of April 3, 2009, he weighed 168 pounds, with a body-fat level of 11 percent. Calculations showed that he had lost 30.9 pounds of fat and gained approximately 4 pounds of muscle. He not only reached his goal, but exceeded it by almost 8 pounds.

I want to thank Keelan Parham for his dedication to my Intensive-Coaching program over the last several months. It certainly shows in his before-and-after comparisons.

Now, he wants to begin the process of adding some solid muscle to his 168-pound physique.

Wow, I was really out of shape! Gotta tell you guys, I am a huge believer in H.I.T. now, and especially in Dr. Darden. I feel very blessed to be able to have him as my trainer, and even more so to call him my friend.

Looking forward to talking with some of you on here, and relating some of my experiences. I can't recommend Dr. Darden's personal coaching highly enough. I've made more changes in my body in two months or so with him than I have in years on my own. He is THE man.

Hey, man. Thanks. ACTUALLly, I did all of this at Ellington;s gym. I live very close to him, so that's where I've been working out. I was so sore after our workouts, that most weeks I just couldn't bring myself to work out in my homegym midweek. I think I only did home workouts twice during our entire initial fat burning phase (between these before and after pix).

Now that we've moved on to a mass building regimen, I am beginning to add one home workout a week into my scehdule, usually on Monday or tuesdays, before I see him on Fridays. I'll have to go upstairs to the gym later and get my workout log so I can accurately tell you what I do on the home workouts. Ellington and I devised it together, though, so it would complement our workouts at his place, but not take aways from them.

Hey, gang. I am vacationing in the Bahamas right now (yeah..trying to keep my diet relatively good at an all inclusive resort is, well.... a bit tough! LOL). Anyway, internet connection here is spotty at best. So, I'll have to write more midweek when I return.

One of the things I've liked about working out with Ell is because he has written so many great books, it was like I had a text, a guidebook, to everything we were (and are) doing. I'm a voracious reader, so this worked perfectly for me.

For the initial two month or so fat burning, we used his flat stomach ASAP book plan. I've been off it for a few weeks now (although, after the Bahamas trip I might have to go back on it now! LOL.... kinda scared to let him get near me with those calipers this week!). Really, we followed the diet stuff in it to the letter... the superhydration, the calories that vary week to week (to keep the body guessing and burning off fat continuosly). That book was invaluable to me. I was and AM amazed at the change it helped me make in such a short period of time. Of course you have to add to it my workouts! Every workout kicked my butt! Seriously, a real HIT workout with Ell gets your heartrate up like nothing I've ever experienced. Within the first two exercises, he has me huffing and puffing and trying to keep my latest meal down. And this is EVERY workout. Still. (One time I WASN'T able to hold down my lunch... that wasn't a pretty picture at all!).

Now, we're attempting to add some more muscle to my newly skinny frame, so we're using the latest HIT book ( NOT the "Old School" one.... I can't remember the name right now... it has a guy's flexed arm, and torso on it in color, but no head showing). So, I just came off the two week creatine loading phase outlined in it.

Anyway, it's late, I'll try to write tomorrow about some more of the training stuff.....

Yeah, that's it .. "The New HIT". Sorry! That's an artist's ADD for you. That, and being so behind from being out of town that I can't think straight! Even less than usual. Here's a pic to PROVE I was in the Bahamas las weekend. Of course, I guess it cOULD be a phto backdrop...

As for the skinny part, I just meant NOW... as opposed to when Ell and I first started workign out together. I'm still in fat burning mode, it seems, though, as I still LOST a pound while staying at an all you can eat, all you can drink resort! Of course, I didn't indulge...

Hey, gang. I've attached a pic here of my homegym, just to let you know where I've worked out the few times these last couple of months when NOT at Ellington's. (Hopefully it worked...this board doesn't seem to let me preview pix when I post them... keeping my fingers crossed for this one and the previous post as well!)

Someone asked before, so here is the " Dr. Darden Approved" home workout plan we tailored for me, from the equipment I have:

Sometimes I've added in the Lying Hamstring Curls first, or some Pullups. Also, I've usually done a few hanging leg raises at the end. Basically, keeping it all to 8-10 exercises, one set each, to failure. THAT was one of the things I learned from Ell, though... what FAILURE is, according to his HIT methods. Very little, if any, cheating is allowed when you work out with him (at least when I have, so far).

So, failure becomes to where you fail but you're still keeping good form. None of this cheating and throwing the bar/weight around that you see in gyms, and that I always did. I have written in my home workout log, after starting with him:

1. BREATHE ( I've always been bad about holding my breath when I lift )
2. Everything Slow and Smooth
3. Perfect Form
4. No Faces (I've always been a bad "grimacer" when I workout, too. He goes into it in some of his books... making faces expends eanergy you could be applying to the lift).

Ha! That's what I heard from Dr. Darden during our workout yesterday after my crappy set of pullovers. I think that's the first time I've gotten that particular comment from him. LOL
Oh well, in my defense, I've been nursing a very sore back for about two weeks (previous lower back injury from bad form bent over rows).

I'll hopefully be a little less "pathetic" next week during our workout! At least I redeemd myself on the dips and pullups.

We also took some pix yesterday (I can only figure out how to upload one image per post on this board), to keep an eye on my progress. Yeah, I cropped what's left of my gut out of this one. What about it? Wish it was that easy in real life!

I tell ya, posing for these things is tough. Keeping everything flexed, your gut sucked in, and for me, trying not to squint (blue eyes squint really badly, I've found), is a lot to remember! Posing itself is a workout!

marcrph wrote:
Question? Since you have gotten great results so far with basically one workout a week, and the ASAP diet; why change to 2 workouts a week? Why not keep it simple as before?

Yeah, this one has had me thinking. Ya know, I'm not sure. Probably just because I can't get the habit of overtraining that's been drilled into me, and everyone else, by the Weiders and the like, out of my head. It's true, train harder, train briefer, train less. I just said THAT, a few posts ago! If Arthur Jones were alive, he'd probably chew me out!

Truthfully, when Dr. Darden and I first met, he was talking about me coming over twice a week. My schedule is so hectic and erratic, though, that he and I agreed I'd do one of my workouts in my home gym each week. Beginning of the week, before I saw him on Fridays.

The problem with that plan was my schedule didn't usually allow for me to fit that other workout in. Add to that the fact that I was usually so sore still at the beginning of the week, and I wanted to give myself adequate rest before I saw him again, that I RARELY was able to get that other workout in. Finally, I found I wasn't even motivated to do it, since I was seeing such results on the one workout a week.

So, I'm gonna think about this. About whether or not I should add the other workout back in. Thanks for bringing that up.

In closing, yesterday Dr. Darden and I addressed the fact that my body hasn't seemed willing to pack on much mass in the past couple of weeks, even with creatine and increased calories. He thinks it's partially my mindset ( I'm afraid I'm gonna pack on the fat we worked so hard to get rid of), but also that my boy is kind of stuck in the fat burning phase. Which I guess is good for a 42 year old! It wants to keep on burning fat, and indeed, has ( I lost a bit of BF % and 2 lbs in the past two weeks). So, I am reducing my calories again, for two more weeks. We're gonna see how much more BF% I can take off in that time.

pillarope wrote:- have you dropped the creatine for the next two weeks while you burn fat?- what is your weight and BF% now?

Thanks, guys. Yeah, no more "pathetic" pullover reports. Got it.As for the creatine, yes, we've dropped it for the next two weeks. ALONG with calories. I had went from, I think, 1300 on my last week of the original fat burning phase to 2400 a day. That seemed huge to me ( 6 minimeals x 400 calories), after so many weeks of reduced calories. Truthfully, I think I've landed up with a bit of the " former fattie" syndrome. Not that I was ever truly a fattie of course, but you get the point. I kept thinking that upping my calories was going to pack on the bodyfat again that I'd just lost. I think that sabotaged my mass gains.

Mindset has so much to do with all of this. The good news is, I think I got over some of this by taking that trip to the Bahamas. Now I didnt' go "hog wild", so to speak, but with all inclusive food and drinks, well, I wasn't exactly on my regular regimen!? To say the least. When I got home and hadn't gained any weight, but had, in fact, LOST a pound, I think I put the "former fattie" fears behind me. When we get through these two weeks, I'm gonna be way more mentally ready to pack on some lean mass this time. (For the record, I did a modified HIT workout one time at the resort's gym in the Bahamas, and did carry around a 32 oz water bottle instead of drinking all the sugary Bahama Mamas and such. When I drank alcohol, it was almost exclusively white wine, so I could easily calculate the calories for a small glass.)My weight right now is 170.

We took caliper measurements Friday and the BF% was down to the 11% of a few weeks ago when I was 168. So, I just realized, I guess that means I gained 2 lbs of lean muscle recently.Finally, one more thing about the next two weeks (which started this past Friday). Friday, I finished out the day at 2400 calories. Yesterday, Saturday, I went down to 1500 calories ( I lost 900 calories in a day! ). We're reducing my calories by 100 per day every 3-4 days.? We're doing 1500 calories for 4 days, 1400 for 3 days, 1300 for 3 days, and 1200 for 4 days, which will get us to Friday, May 15th.If my caliper measurements right around my navel ( my genetic problem area for fat... darn blue eyes!) aren't considerably better, then they? probably aren't gonna get better.

KeelanParham wrote:
Yesterday, Saturday, I went down to 1500 calories ( I lost 900 calories in a day! ). We're reducing my calories by 100 per day every 3-4 days.? We're doing 1500 calories for 4 days, 1400 for 3 days, 1300 for 3 days, and 1200 for 4 days, which will get us to Friday, May 15th.If my caliper measurements right around my navel ( my genetic problem area for fat... darn blue eyes!) aren't considerably better, then they? probably aren't gonna get better.

Sounds like a sound plan.

Just do it!

I'll be with you in spirit!
My wife and I want to start a diet now! I've got to get serious about packing my lunch for work!

Yesterday was the last day on 1500 calories. And the first day the "gnawing" feel in my stomach came back, meaning I am starting to burn fat again. Today I started my 1400 calories for the next three days, and I weighed in at 169. So, that means I lost a pound or so already. I know a pound isn't much, and could almost be chalked up to water weight differences, etc, from day to day, I guess. But that gnawing feeling I was fighting off all day tells me it's real weight (hopefully FAT) loss.